The Langley Thunder went between the pipes with their first selection of the BC Junior A Lacrosse League Entry Draft.

The Thunder chose goaltender Brayden Wandler out of Ridge Meadows, in the first round (sixth overall). He was one of the Junior A lacrosse team’s two first round picks as they nabbed fellow Ridge Meadows product Ethan Quinn two picks later.

The players were among the six selected by Langley at the draft for first-year junior players from around the province who do not have a Junior A team in their catchment area.

The draft was held January 5 at Langley Events Centre with a total of 48 players selected by the eight teams. Seven Ridge Meadows players were taken among the eight first-round picks.

“He’s a goalie that can make a big save in tight and plays a stand-up angles style,” explained Thunder assistant general manager Ryan Williams. “He’s not a big goalie but when he needs to make a reaction save, he is more than ready to do so.

Ethan Quinn, 5’10 170 pounds, Right Defence/Transition/Offence

“Ethan is the type of player who every coach likes to have on the team. He goes 100 per cent every shift and is a work horse,” Williams said. “He has great feet and is fast in transition, he plays well in a two-man game up front and talks on the back end.”

Jaden Terry, 5’11 170 pounds, Left Defence/Transition/Offence

“Jaden is one of the most athletic players coming out of Midget A last year. He has great hands and sees the ball very well at both ends,” Williams said. “His speed and ability to change direction on a dime will make him a dangerous player in transition and at the offensive end of the floor.”

Tenzin Fernandez, 6’1 200 pounds, Goalie

“Tenzin is a big goalie who plays an athletic style. He played with a NLL size stick in Midget while most goalies his age used a wood stick or a wall,” Williams said.

Justin McKnight, 6’0 170 pounds, Right Transition/Defence

“Good speed and can run the ball in transition. Justin is a player who can power his way to the net when in transition and will get a few goals out of the back end,” Williams said. “He is a solid defender and hits hard and his coach in Midget speaks highly of him as a leader who leads by example.”

Connor Sande, 6’2 180 pounds, Right Defence/Transition

“Connor is a big body that can run the ball in transition and plays a solid defensive game. We feel he will fit in with a current group of D players in the organization,” Williams said.

It was an experience Cooper Gettel is unlikely to forget anytime soon, if ever.

The 18-year-old from Langley helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2019 World Junior Lacrosse Championships, defeating Iroquois 13-10 in the gold-medal match on August 10.

The six-team championships were held at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ont.

Canada trailed 5-0 in the final game before they came roaring back, taking a 6-5 lead at the half and after the score was tied at seven, scoring six of the final nine goals.

“It was just awesome, seeing all the red and white jerseys in the crowd,” Gettel explained. “The crowd was buzzing. It was like nothing else.”

“Winning the gold was just an amazing feeling (and) I don’t know if anything else would ever be able to do it for me again.”

Canada won their pool following a pair of lopsided victories, 24-4 over Australia and 16-2 against Israel.

They faced Israel again in the playoff round, prevailing 18-4, setting up the final in which Canada had their stiffest test of the competition, up against Iroquois in a rematch of the 2018 gold-medal game.

And once again, Canada would prevail for the gold.

Gettel said he had not planned on joining the team, but was invited to attend Canada’s B.C. combine, showing well enough to earn an invitation to travel with the team to Prague back in April for a tournament.

Gettel played primarily a defence/transition role for the Canadian squad, although he did see spot duty up front, finishing with three goals and four points over the four games.

During the regular season with the Langley Thunder Junior Tier 1 team, he was tied for the goal-scoring lead after potting 23 goals in 14 games. He was also fourth on the team with 31 points.

And having just graduated from Langley Fundamental back in June, Gettel is off to Rochester Institute of Technology, where he will join the Tigers field lacrosse team.

Despite a pair of goals from Tristan Kirkham, the Langley Thunder could not get past the Victoria Shamrocks, falling 10-9 in the deciding game of their BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League quarter-final series on Tuesday in Victoria. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre file photo

Cameron Lumb scored the go-ahead goal with 5:37 to play as the Victoria Shamrocks ended the Langley Thunder season.

The two teams played the third and deciding game of their BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League quarter-final series on Tuesday afternoon at Victoria’s Q Centre with the second-seeded Shamrocks edging the No. 7 Thunder 10-9.

The home team won all three games of the series (Victoria won game one 9-5 and Langley took game two 13-8) and each team scored a total of 27 goals.

Trevayne Hunter and Chase Moore gave the visitors ahead 2-0 in the opening 3:21 of game three but the Shamrocks responded with five goals to close the first period and made it 6-2 early in the second.

Neither team would score for the next 11 minutes before a flurry of goals saw the Thunder cut the deficit to two, 8-6 after 40 minutes. And after trading goals to open the third, Langley’s Cooper Gettel and Hunter pulled the Thunder even with 7:48 to play.

But Lumb scored the decisive goal just over two minutes later and from there, Nolan Dalep shut the door, denying the Thunder on each attempt. The goaltender finished with 50 saves as Langley outshot Victoria 59-52.

A big difference in game three was the amount of power play opportunities with Victoria receiving four man-advantage chances to Langley’s one and both teams cashing in each time.

Kyle Brunsch led all Langley scorers with six assists while Hunter had a hat trick and four points. Tristan Kirkham (two goals) Nathan Lavigne (one goal, two assists), Chase Moore (one goal, one assist), Braiden Struss-Reid (one goal, one assist) and Gettel rounded out the scoring.

Jonathan Boyd led Victoria with three goals and two assists and Isaac Swan also had a five-point game with a pair of goals and three helpers. Lumb (two goals, two assists) and Evan Law and Carson Echlin (one goal, three assists apiece) all finished with four-point games.

The Shamrocks now play the Delta Islanders in one semifinal while the Coquitlam Adanacs face the Richmond Roadrunners in the other.

Despite plenty of attention from the Victoria Shamrocks defence, Langley Thunder's Kyle Brunsch had a huge game on Sunday, scoring five goals and setting up two others in his team's 13-8 victory. The win sets up a third and deciding game between the two teams in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League quarter-finals. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre photo

It is down to a winner-take all game on Tuesday in Victoria.

The Langley Thunder used a dominant second period to ensure their season continued, scoring eight goals in the second period alone to turn a 3-3 deadlock into an 11-5 lead on Sunday afternoon at Langley Events Centre.

And after the visiting Victoria Shamrocks scored a pair of goals to open the third period, cutting the deficit to four, the Thunder stiffened defensively, allowing just one goal over the rest of the way, including none over the final 10 minutes, as they won 13-8.

The best-of-three BC Junior Tier 1 quarter-final series now shifts back to Victoria for the deciding game on Tuesday afternoon (July 16, 5 p.m.) to see which team advances to the semifinals, and which team is done for the summer.

The Shamrocks are the second seed for the playoffs thanks to their 13-4-1 victory while the Thunder came in as the seventh seed following a 7-11 season, which included a pair of losses to Victoria, 11-5 and 14-7.

In game one in Victoria on Saturday, the Thunder played the Shamrocks tough Langley led 4-3 late into the second period before giving up a pair of goals in the final four minutes, including one with just four seconds to go before intermission. Victoria then scored four straight in the third before the Thunder finally got one back in a 9-5 Shamrocks victory.

But game two would be a different story.

The teams were once again tied at three following one period but Langley put on an offensive display in the middle stanza, scoring eight times while allowing just a pair. By comparison, the Shamrocks were the second stingiest team during the regular season, surrendering just 7.56 goals against per game, a number the Thunder eclipsed in less than 20 minutes of work.

“In the second period, we started moving the ball all over the place and started going to the net,” said Langley head coach Kris Bryde on the 20 minutes which swung the momentum in favour of the Thunder.

Leading the charge in game two offensively was Kyle Brunsch, who delivered five goals and seven points, while Trevayne Hunter and Jordan Daniel both potted a pair. Chase Moore, Kanen Hunter and Tristan Kirkham rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. Braiden Struss-Reid chipped in with three assists while Nathan Lavigne set up a pair of goals.

“The offence was going, that’s what the coaching staff wanted us to do in the first game (and) we didn’t … but today we did,” explained Trevayne Hunter.

In goal, Dryden Recsky finished with 42 saves for the victory. That came on the heels of a 54-save effort in game one, a combined .850 save percentage.

Cameron Lumb led Victoria with two goals and an assist while Matthew Hermsen had a pair of goals and Evan Law had three assists in game two.

One area the Thunder will need to improve is the fact four of Victoria’s eight goals came short-handed.

This is the second straight season Langley has faced a third and deciding quarter-final game, losing 10-9 to the Port Coquitlam Saints in 2018.

Kanen Hunter said the experience of last year, where the intensity of the game was ratcheted up, is something the team can draw on as they look to extend their season.

“And we have an older team now, we have definitely really gelled over these two years now,” he said.

The message from the coaches will be simple.

“We have to play exactly like we did today. We out-transitioned them, we played solid defensively five-on-five, we were pretty disciplined, we stayed out of the box,” Bryde said.

“And we got a lot of opportunities in the reverse transition ourselves. We just played an overall great game today and got the result we wanted.”

Kanen Hunter and the Langley Thunder are in tough as they get set to battle the Victoria Shamrocks in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League playoffs beginning this weekend. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre photo

The Victoria Shamrocks stand between the Langley Thunder and a spot in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League semifinals.

The second-place Shamrocks (13-4-1, 27 points) have home-floor advantage over the seventh-ranked Thunder (7-11, 14 points) as the two rivals square off in the league quarter-finals beginning this weekend.

Game one goes Saturday (July 13) in Victoria at 2 p.m. with the rematch set for the following day (July 14) at Langley Events Centre with the action getting underway at 1 p.m.

If necessary, the teams would play the deciding game back in the provincial capital on Tuesday (July 16).

Victoria enters the post-season as one of the league’s hottest teams with just one loss in their final 10 games (8-1-1) while the Thunder won three of their final 10 but did finish with two victories and an overtime loss in their last three games.

The Shamrocks did win both games in the season series, prevailing 11-5 back on May 18 and then 14-7 on June 2.

But the Thunder have gotten stronger as the season wound down. A perfect example of this is the face Langley suffered its worse loss of the season, 21-8 to the Delta Islanders on June 18 but four games later (in the regular season finale), Langley took third-place Delta all the way to overtime before losing 12-11.

And while the Shamrocks bested the Thunder in the season series, Langley did post similar offensive numbers to Victoria, outscoring the Shamrocks by four goals (171 to 167) over the course of the regular season. The biggest difference was, however, the fact that Victoria was second stingiest, allowing a total of 136 goals over 18 games, compared to the Thunder’s 189 (second worst).

Braiden Struss-Reid and Cooper Gettel finished tied for the Langley goal-scoring lead with 23 goals apiece while Struss-Reid edged Tristan Kirkham for the team’s points lead, 46 to 45. Kanen Hunter was third on the team with 43 points. The team also has Trevayne Hunter and Kyle Brunsch, after the pair spent the bulk of the season as call-ups for the Langley Junior A squad, gaining valuable experience.

In limited action, Hunter had 14 goals and 21 points in five games while Brunsch has three goals and 13 points in three games. At the Junior A level, Hunter had 13 goals and 37 points in 15 games while Brunsch had seven goals and 23 points in a dozen games.

That is the hope for the Langley Thunder Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse team who took care of the first part of that on Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre, knocking off the Maple Ridge Burrards 12-5.

The Burrards were in must-win territory, playing their final game of the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League regular season and trailing both the New Westminster Salmonbellies and Thunder by two points. But Langley’s victory improves the Thunder to 7-10 on the season with one game to play and pulls them two points ahead of the Salmonbellies in the race for seventh place in the standings.

Maple Ridge finishes the season at 5-13.

The Thunder wrap up the regular season on Friday in Delta while New Westminster still has a pair of games remaining.

“It is all for the playoffs, that is what you play for. Regular season is all about placement and finding out that matchup. Playoffs, you get a hot team, a hot goaltender, anything can happen,” said Thunder coach Kris Bryde.

At one point in the season, Langley sat at 5-5 before a five-game losing streak threatened to torpedo their season. But this now marks two straight victories for the Thunder, and just as importantly, the team has been playing much better, showing great ball movement on offence and winning the loose ball battles for extra possessions.

“We have been rolling for the last few games here and we have been waiting for that to happen. We are starting to really gel as a team and guys are playing their roles,” Bryde said. “The ball movement is much better and our transition is better out there.”

In Tuesday’s game, Langley held a slim 3-1 lead following the first period before a five-goal middle frame essentially put the game out of reach, leading 8-3 before doubling up Maple Ridge 4-2 in the third.

The Thunder had a balanced attack with eight players finding the back of the net, led by two goals apiece from Kanen Hunter, Tristan Kirkham, Braiden Struss-Reid and Cooper Gettel. Kirkham also had three assists while Kyle Brunsch had five assists as both players finished the night with five-point games.

Dryden Recsky made 35 saves in the Thunder goal.

Maple Ridge was led by Kyle Bailuk’s goal and two assists.

Langley wraps up the regular season on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. when they travel to the Ladner Leisure Centre.

After surrendering a pair of goals to trail 2-0 just 74 seconds in, the Langley Thunder offence awoke and helped the team snap a five-game losing streak.

The Thunder scored five goals in each of the first and second periods, building a 10-4 lead in what became an 11-8 victory over the visiting New Westminster Salmonbellies on Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action.

The victory improved Langley to 6-10, pulling them even with the Salmonbellies in the standings for seventh place with just two regular season games remaining. The top eight make the post-season.

In Tuesday’s victory, Braiden Struss-Reid scored three times and Kyle Brunsch had a pair of goals to go along with three assists. Jordan Daniel and Chase Moore had a pair of goals apiece and Cooper Gettel finished with a goal and four points.

Noah Kozevnikov entered the game with his team down 2-0 and was solid the rest of the way to earn the victory between the pipes.

The Salmonbellies were led by three goals apiece from Marcus Vanderlinde and Kai George.

Next up for the Thunder is another home game, their final one of the regular season on Tuesday (July 2) against the Maple Ridge Burrards at Langley Events Centre. The game gets underway at 7:30 p.m.

Langley wraps up the regular season on July 5 with a visit to the Ladner Leisure Centre to face the Delta Islanders.

Jack Margetson, a call-up for the Langley Thunder TIer 1 team, led the squad with two goals and four points in their most recent outing in Nanaimo. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre file photo

The losing streak has reached five games for the Langley Thunder Junior Tier 1 squad.

The most recent setback was Saturday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre as the Thunder dropped a 14-8 decision to the host Timbermen. The loss leaves Langley with a 5-10 record in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League standings. Nanaimo improved to 7-7-1.

Nanaimo dominated the opening 40 minutes winning each of the first two periods by identical 5-1 scores. Langley did bounce back to win a high-scoring final frame 6-4.

Jack Margetson, a call-up for the contest, led Langley with two goals and two helpers while Tristan Kirkham had a pair of goals and an assist. Chase Moore, Josh Brunsch, Jordan Daniel and Nathan Lavigne chipped in with a goal apiece.

Both goaltenders saw action in the Thunder net with Dryden Recsky stopping 32 of 42 shots while Noah Kozevnikov stopped four of eight shots.

Kyle Drouin led the T-Men with three goals and 10 points while Riley Arsenault had four goals and eight points.

The Thunder are back in action on Tuesday (June 25) against New Westminster.

Nathan Lavigne and the Langley Thunder were held in check by the Delta Islanders on Tuesday night, falling 21-8 in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre photo

It was a good news/bad news kind of game.

After being held to a combined eight goals over their previous 120 minutes of lacrosse, the Langley Thunder broke out (relatively speaking), matching that with eight goals on Tuesday night.

That was the good news.

The bad news?

They allowed a season-high 21 goals to the visiting Delta Islanders in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action at Langley Events Centre.

The defeat was a fourth-straight loss for the struggling club, also a season high as they saw their record fall to 5-9. Delta improved to 10-4 as each team has four games remaining in the regular season.

Langley played a relatively solid opening dozen minutes, holding the Islanders to just one goal over that span and scoring one of their own. But goals 18 seconds apart opened the floodgates and the Islanders potted another four prior to intermission. The real backbreaker was surrendering three goals in the final 50 seconds, turning a 4-1 disadvantage into a 7-1 hole which was much too deep to climb out of.

While Delta had seven goals in those 20 minutes, Langley mustered just eight shots on net and they were outshot 76-35 over the game.

The Thunder would score four in the middle frame and another three in the third, but Delta kept their foot on the gas, striking for seven more goals in each of those periods for the lopsided margin of victory.

Tristan Kirkham led Langley with two goals while Braiden Struss-Reid had four assists. Nico Gerussi, Chase Moore, Nathan Lavigne, Josh Bramley and Ayden Johnson rounded out the Thunder attack.

Gerussi’s goal – which tied the score at one and was one of the few bright spots in the game for the team – came on a great individual effort as he tracked down his rebound after being stopped on the initial chance and dove across the crease to net his first of the season.

Dryden Recsky got the start, playing the first period with 19 saves on 20 shots before being relieved by Noah Kozevnikov, who made 36 saves on 50 shots.

Keegan Kozack and Ben McDonald each scored four times and set up three others for seven-point nights to lead the Islanders as nine different Delta players found the back of the net.

The Thunder will look to regroup and find their way back into the win column when they travel to Nanaimo on Saturday (June 22) to battle the Timbermen. The team’s next home game is June 25 against the New Westminster Salmonbellies.

Langley Thunder's Braiden Struss-Reid goes airborne during his team's game against Coquitlam on June 11 at Langley Events Centre. While he did score on this play, the goal was waived off due to a crease violation as the Thunder struggled offensively, being held to a season-low four goals. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre

The stingiest team in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League was at it again on Tuesday night.

The Coquitlam Adanacs held the Langley Thunder to a season-low four goals (and only three of those beat the goaltender) in an 11-4 victory at Langley Events Centre.

Langley entered the game with double digit goals in three of the past four games, including a combined 27 in a pair of games last week. But for the second time this season, Coquitlam held the Thunder to five goals or less, having also beaten Langley 11-5 back in early May.

The visitors, who improved to 10-1 with the victory, scored the only four goals of the first period and then netted the eventual game-winner early in the second with the teams playing four-a-aside.

The Thunder did get goals Nathan Lavigne and Cooper Gettel 24 seconds apart but any momentum they hoped to build was soon squashed as they took a five-minute slashing major and spent that chunk playing man down.

The Adanacs would score just once on the power play before adding another pair of goals later in the period. Jordan Daniel did score a buzzer-beater to end the period as Langley did a great job of manoeuvring the ball up the floor as time ticked down after Coquitlam pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker but were unable to score and left too much time for the Thunder to counterattack.

But any possible momentum from that late goal, which made the score 8-3, never materialized with Coquitlam outscoring Langley 3-1 in a fight-filled final period.

Gettel would notch his second of the game for Langley’s lone goal in the frame.

Jeremy Basic and Adam Noakes led the Adanacs with three goals apiece with Basic also adding three assists.

The loss was a second straight for Langley as they fell to 5-7 on the season with six games remaining in the regular season. The Thunder are back in action on Friday (June 14) as they visit Queen’s Park Arena to battle the New Westminster Salmonbellies.

]]>Big third period not enough as Thunder fall in PoCohttp://thunder.bcjt1lax.com/news/big-third-period-not-enough-as-thunder-fall-in-pocFri, 7 Jun 2019 22:34:48 +0000cb5169e5-b52a-482d-a1bf-8e0106bb8ae5

A big third period was not enough for the Langley Thunder.

The Junior Tier 1 Thunder scored eight times over the final 20 minutes, but the host Port Coquitlam Saints also had a big period, notching six goals in that span.

But Port Coquitlam’s 9-4 lead through 40 minutes was more than enough cushion as the Saints held on for the 15-12 victory in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action on Thursday night at ….

The Saints improved to 8-3 while Langley saw their record fall to 5-6.

The teams were tied at four following 20 minutes, but Port Coquitlam seized control with a dominant second period which saw them outscore the Langley visitors 5-0.

Cooper Gettel led the Langley offence with five goals while Braiden Struss-Reid had four goals and one assist. Jordan Daniel chipped in with four assists while Aydan Johnson, Ryan Taylor and Kanen Hunter had a goal apiece.

Up next for the Thunder is a visit from Coquitlam Adanacs on Tuesday, June 11 at Langley Events Centre. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

The 15 goals were the Junior Tier 1 team’s second-highest total, surpassed by only the 17 they scored earlier this season, also against Burnaby.

The most recent victory came Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre with the result evening the Thunder’s record to 5-5 in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League while the Lakers fell to 0-12 on the season.

Langley scored six goals in both the first and second periods, leading 6-2 after 20 minutes and 12-5 through 40 minutes.

Chase Moore and Cooper Gettel had matching five-point nights, with each scoring a hat trick and setting up a pair for Langley.

Kanen Hunter and Aydan Johnson both notched a pair of goals with Hunter also adding an assist, and Jordan Daniel and Josh Bramley finishing with a goal and an assist apiece. Hudson Shelvey and Kai Maenpaa rounded out the attack with a goal apiece while Braiden Struss-Reid chipped in with three helpers.

The Thunder averaged nearly three power-play goals entering the game but did the bulk of their damage five-on-five with just one power play goal and two short-handed markers.

Dryden Recsky (17 saves, five goals against in two periods) and Noah Kozevnikov (eight saves, one goal against) split the goaltending duties for the Thunder.

Jordan Alain led the Lakers with a goal and two helpers while Basil Cooper, Lukas Marshall and Cole Seto each had a goal and an assist. Kai Searle and Jaden Sealed rounded out the Burnaby attack with a goal apiece.

The Thunder are back in action on Thursday (June 6) as they visit the PoCo Rec Centre to race the Saints (7-3).

Three goals in the final 1:44 of the first period helped the Victoria Shamrocks establish a multi-goal cushion which they would not relinquish on Sunday afternoon.

The Victoria visitors held a slim 3-2 lead over the Langley Thunder but that three-goal surge just before the first intermission was part of a larger 8-0 run over 6:49 of game action as the Shamrocks doubled up the Thunder 14-7 at Langley Events Centre.

Langley did respond with a 4-0 spurt of their own, closing the gap to 11-6 in that middle frame but the Thunder could get no closer.

Victoria improved to 8-3 as they sit second in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League while the Thunder saw their modest two-game win streak come to an end as their record fell to 4-5.

Braiden Struss-Reid and Tristan Kirkham led the Langley attack with a pair of goals apiece while Trevayne Hunter had a goal and two helpers. Nathan Lavigne and Jordan Daniel had a goal apiece and Josh Bramley finished with a pair of assists to round out the Thunder attack.

Special teams were also key in the game with Victoria scoring twice on the power play and the Shamrocks penalty kill outscoring the Langley power play two to one.

Isaac Swan led the Shamrocks with three goals, all of which came in the first period while Davis McCulley scored twice.

Up next for the Thunder is a visit from the Burnaby Lakers to Langley Events Centre on Tuesday, June 4. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

It took a third-period rally and overtime, but the Langley Thunder are back to .500 on the season.

The Tier 1 Thunder tied the game with just over five minutes to play and then scored twice in the overtime period to their opponent’s one goal in an 11-10 victory on Wednesday night over the Richmond Roadrunners at Minoru Arena.

The win was a second straight for Langley, improving their record to 4-4 in the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League while Richmond fell to 4-5-1.

Tristan Kirkham and Kanen Hunter each scored once and set up one another in the overtime period with both players finishing with five-point games with identical three-goal, two-assist performances.

Langley only led for 12:30 during the 60-minute regulation period but never trailed in the overtime session with Kirkham giving the Thunder the lead and after Richmond equalized a few minutes later, Hunter burying what turned out to be the winner.

The Thunder’s Ryan Taylor had knotted the score at nine with 5:07 to play in regulation.

Langley’s other goals came from Hudson Shelvey, Jordan Daniel, Braiden Struss-Reid and Aydan Johnson while Chase Moore had three assists and Nico Gerussi chipped in with a pair of helpers.

Dryden Recsky stopped 56 saves in the victory.

The Thunder will look for a season-high third straight victory on Sunday (June 2) as they host the Victoria Shamrocks at Langley Events Centre. Game time is 1 p.m.

Down 3-0 just over eight minutes into the game to one of the top teams in the league – and in danger of dropping a third consecutive game – the Langley Thunder rallied for a huge victory on Thursday night.

The Thunder scored four of the next five goals to close the first frame and then dominated the second with a 6-2 advantage as they knocked off the Port Coquitlam Saints by a final score of 11-7 in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action.

“It was huge, we needed this win. The Saints are a good team,” said Langley coach Kris Bryde, whose squad improved to 3-4 with Port Coquitlam fell to 6-2.

The visitors were up 3-0 thanks to a trio of goals in a 2:28 span, including short-handed markers seven seconds apart.

“We slipped up mentally for a couple of minutes there and it cost us,” Bryde said.

Goaltender Dryden Recsky helped spark the turnaround, not only with the big saves, but also his outlet passes, as he finished the game with 39 saves and a pair of assists.

“Our goalie was throwing the ball excellent today. He was making that save, putting it into his stick and getting the ball down the floor to our guys running onto it all day,” Bryde explained. “We really made a track meet out of it.”

It also helped that Langley’s power play stopped surrendering goals and scored three times with the man advantage as well.

Tristan Kirkham led the offence with a hat trick and four points, Cooper Gettel had two goals and an assist while Chase Moore (one goal, four points), Kanen Hunter (one goal, three points) and Jordan Daniel (three assists). Nick Lavigne, Ayden Johnson, Dane Chard and call-up Jack Margetson had a goal apiece.

The Thunder won’t have much time to rest on the laurels of their victory as they are back in action on Wednesday (May 29) when they visit Richmond to face the Roadrunners.

The team’s next home game at Langley Events Centre is Sunday (June 2) against the Victoria Shamrocks. Game time is 1:00 p.m.

A poor second-period proved costly as the Langley Thunder hit the road in Maple Ridge last night.

Langley was up 4-3 after one period but were outscored 6-2 in the middle frame, falling 13-10 to the host Maple Ridge Burrards in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action on Friday night at Planet Ice Cam Neely.

The loss drops the Thunder’s record to 2-4 while the Burrards just a half-game behind at 2-5.

Trailing 10-6 early in the third period, Langley did cut the deficit down to two goals with 15 minutes to play but could get no closer.

The loss came despite a four-goal, five-point effort from Braiden Struss-Reid. Kanen Hunter also had a big game with a goal and three helpers while Chase Moore, Tristan Kirkham and Cooper Gettel each had a goal and an assist. Hudson Shelvey and Nathan Lavigne rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece and Jordan Daniel and Nico Gerussi set up two goals each.

Dryden Recsky stopped 35 shots in the loss.

The Thunder are back in action on Tuesday (May 28) as they return to Langley Events Centre to face the Port Coquitlam Saints. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

For 36 minutes, the Langley Thunder were right in the game, outscoring their opponent 4-2 during that time. But the game is 60 minutes long and the Victoria Shamrocks dominated on the scoreboard for the remaining 24 minutes thanks to an 8-1 run over the span as they knocked off the visitors 10-5.

The two BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League teams met in a Saturday afternoon matinee in the provincial capital with Victoria snapping Langley’s win streak at two games.

The Shamrocks scored the only two goals of the opening frame and after Trevayne Hunter got the visitors on the board in the opening minute of the middle stanza, Victoria ripped off eight of the next nine goals spanning the second and third periods to put the game out of reach.

Langley did close strong with the last three goals for the 10-5 final score.

Hunter led Langley with three goals and four points while Braiden Struss-Reid had three helpers. Tristan Kirkham and Cooper Gettel had the other scores for Langley.

The Thunder were coming off a combined 31 goals in their past two games, both of which were victories, but they saw their record slip to 2-3. A telling fact in all three losses has been the fact Langley scored six, five and five goals in those three defeats.

Victoria improved to 5-2, including 2-0 against Langley.

Langley is back in action on Friday (May 24) when they travel to Maple Ridge to battle the Burrards. The Thunder’s next home game is Tuesday, May 28 when they host the Port Coquitlam Saints at Langley Events Centre.

]]>Power play powers Thunder to second straight victoryhttp://thunder.bcjt1lax.com/news/power-play-powers-thunder-to-second-straight-victoWed, 15 May 2019 05:20:26 +00002204b9e1-12c9-4160-8281-cedabe343323

The Langley Thunder have gone from goal-starved to back-to-back offensive eruptions.

Forty-eight hours after posting 17 goals, the Junior Tier 1 lacrosse team wasn’t quite as potent, but still racked up another 14 goals to rout the Richmond Roadrunners 14-3.

The two squads faced off in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action on Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre with the Thunder improving to 2-2 while Richmond saw their record even up at 3-3-1.

The Roadrunners took a slim 2-1 lead into the first intermission. But given multiple opportunities on the power play in the middle frame, the Thunder made the visitors pay, posting seven goals (five on the power play) in a nine-minute span.

The offensive catalyst on the game was Trevayne Hunter, who scored five in that decisive second period and added one more in the third to complete the sock trick. Hunter’s return to the line-up in Sunday’s 17-4 demolition of the Burnaby Lakers (he had two goals and four assists) has coincided with the Thunder posting 31 goals over their last two games. By comparison, Langley struggled with a combined 11 goals in the first two games of the season, both losses.

“The offence is swinging the ball back and forth. We are setting picks, moving around on ‘O’, we are doing exactly what the game plan says,” Hunter explained of the team’s success these past two games.

In addition to Hunter’s monster game, Braiden Struss-Reid finished with three goals and five points while Kanen Hunter finished with five assists. Nathan Lavigne and Tristan Kirkham each had a goal and two helpers while Josh Bramley, Kai Maenpaa and Cooper Gettel notched a goal apiece.

The Roadrunners entered the game averaging nearly 10 goals per contest, but were held to just three, and none over the game’s final 24:59.

Josh Bourne led Richmond with a pair of goals and an assist while Stuart Ahara had the other.

Final shots on goal were 57-45 in favour of the Thunder with Langley’s Dryden Recsky making 42 saves.

Langley looks for a three-game winning streak when they travel to Victoria on Saturday (May 18) to face the Shamrocks.

The Langley Thunder entered their third game of the season with a total of 11 goals in 120 minutes of lacrosse. It took them just over 34 minutes to match that amount in their most recent game.

The Junior Tier 1 lacrosse team broke out offensively with a huge 17-4 victory over the host Burnaby Lakers at Bill Copeland Arena on Sunday night.

The win improved Langley to 1-2 on the season while Burnaby fell to 0-6.

It was a one-goal game midway through the first period with the Thunder holding a slim 3-2 advantage. But the visitors scored three straight to close the opening frame before pumping home six of the eight goals in the middle frame for the 13-4 lead.

Langley added the only four goals of the final period, while also limiting their Laker opponents to a mere three shots on goal.

Nine different players found the back of the net for the Thunder while 13 of the 18 had at least a single point. Kanen Hunter (three goals, four assists) and Tristan Kirkham (two goals, five assists) both had seven-point games while Trevayne Hunter (two goals, four assists) and Nathan Lavigne (four goals, two assists) had six points apiece.

Goals continue to be hard to come by early in the season for the Langley Thunder Tier 1 lacrosse team.

The Thunder were in Coquitlam on Friday night for their first road game of the season and were on the losing end of an 11-5 score to the host Adanacs in BC Tier 1 Lacrosse League action at the Poirer Sports Centre.

The loss drops Langley to 0-2 as they also dropped their season opener 13-6 on April 28.

The game began decently enough for Langley as they scored the first two goals of the game with Kanen Hunter and Tristan Kirkham giving the visitors a quick lead in the opening five minutes.

But the Adanacs responded with two goals of their own to close the period before outscoring Langley 6-1 in the middle stanza. The final frame was closer but Coquitlam still edged the Thunder 3-2 in those 20 minutes.

Both teams scored once on the power play.

Hunter and Kirkham finished with a goal and an assist apiece and Gavin Gill, Josh Bramley and Cooper Gettel scored once each.

Final shots were 56-30 for Coquitlam.

Langley is back in action on Sunday (May 12) when they travel to Burnaby to face the Lakers at Bill Copeland Arena. Game time is 8 p.m.